Well it seemed like this day would never get here. I have been looking for a 2 wheel drive shortbox for about 8 months, lots of 4x4 shortboxs but very few 2 wheel drives. In the 8 months I found 2, one was total garbage and the other one sold before I could even look at it.

I wasn't looking for a Flareside but I'm kinda excited to get this thing built.

I paid $1500 for the truck. The engine (a 302) is shot, the drivers side floor is rusted, both cab corners are rusted out and both doors have rust on the sides. If your thinking I got screwed I didn't. The truck came with Dream Beams installed and it had new brakes and king pins at the same time. It came with 2 new rear Ford fenders (not overseas crap). The beams would be about $600+ and the overseas fenders from LMC are $400 each so the way I look at it (not counting the brakes or king pins) I got the rest of the truck for $100.

Here are some pics of when I got it home.





I have made a bit of progress in the last couple of days. I flipped the front spring hangers on the rear and installed a fender to see how it looked. I may need to take out a leaf but I will wait and see. It looks not bad now but once I get the extra 230 lbs of a 460 in the front it may change things.



Now that I have the stance close I can start to take things apart so I got started on the interior. I got one door off and the windshield out.



Two things in this picture. Has anyone ever seen this warning label? I'm not sure if it is something someone added after the fact or not.

You can see the top "keeper" (for a better word) for the window seal, there is one on the bottom as well. Should I put it back in? I left it out on my '78 and have never seen a problem.





To be continued......

 

Looks like its got pleanty of potential. I started rebuilding my 79 shortbox this summer and have made some good progress. (I have yet to get it up on the site yet) but it will be nice to see how it comes out in the end.

 

Dang I love the stance of it ! Looks to be a great project! What are your plans for it? Where are you located? Seems like around here (Georgia) I find more 2wd shortbeds than 4wds.

 

I'm in Alberta. Plans are to to do a frame off and swap in a stroked 460, aiming for about 500hp

 

That sticker was part of a safety mandate because of reports of the transmission shifting out of park and into reverse, making the truck take off backwards on its own if left running in park with the parking brake off. There was no recall, but I believe I read that Ford sent the stickers out to owners and asked that the sticker be placed on the truck. I've seen it on the dash and the visor.

 

That's kinda cool. I've never heard of that before. Any hardcore restoration guy out there want it if I can get it off in one piece?

 

See for further reading: Ford Automatic Transmission Warning Decal Origins - FORDification.com

 

Nice project , my grandfather left me mine , been in family since new , Ive had it since 1988 and drive it everyday . Keep the pics coming .

 

If it isn
t too much trouble and if nobody else has asked for it I would be interested in it.

 

I will see if I can get it off in one piece. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Went looking for doors this weekend and found a rust free cab! a rare find around here. Just need to find out what he wants for it and go dig it out of the tall grass and other junk.

 

So Kevin, Havent heard from you in a while and I was wondering if you had any news about that decal?

 

Sorry. I'v been busy getting the other truck stripped of the good parts so i can scrap the rest before the nabours grumpy. I will try getting it off this weekend.

 

Okay cool! I was mostly just following up on older business I had left incomplete. Sounds like you are making great progress on your build though.

 

Well I thought I should add an update so Here it goes.

I got the Donor truck home and it wasn't quite rust free, but it is much better than the one I had.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67574263@N06/6228349758/" title="IMG_0219 by kmatlock40, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6118/6228349758_9e84a4f33c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0219"></a>

Pulled the cab and any other parts that looked ok. There weren't a lot of them, it was a farm truck and it was pretty beat up.

The tractor was a bit small so we had to be inventive.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67574263@N06/6228350254/" title="IMG_0221 by kmatlock40, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6057/6228350254_0eec695ac4.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0221"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67574263@N06/6228350668/" title="IMG_0223 by kmatlock40, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6033/6228350668_72ba236e00.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0223"></a>

Floor boards and cab corners were good.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67574263@N06/6227834359/" title="IMG_0231 by kmatlock40, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6110/6227834359_5dd5999421.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0231"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67574263@N06/6227835233/" title="IMG_0238 by kmatlock40, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6176/6227835233_09916cc0f2.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0238"></a>

Sadly there was some rust behind the window rubber. Not a good place to have rust.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67574263@N06/6227834759/" title="IMG_0234 by kmatlock40, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6036/6227834759_432b42ec8f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0234"></a>

The box sides for the step side are in worse shape than I thought. The PO welded the patches in and got things way to hot and warped it bad. Of course you can't buy replacements so I took them down to a local shop. They are going to cut out the wheel wells and the box top and weld them to a new side. The curl on the top of the box can't be duplicated so it makes it a bit more challenging. I will post a picture of the finished product.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67574263@N06/6228353254/" title="IMG_0246 by kmatlock40, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6156/6228353254_87ca682464.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0246"></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67574263@N06/6227864727/" title="IMG_0250 by kmatlock40, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6153/6227864727_210c328d9a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0250"></a>

I will get some more pics on tonight.